An island is a piece of landmass smaller than a continent and surrounded entirely by water. Although most islands are formed naturally, others like Flevopolder and René-Levasseur Island are artificial islands, constructed by people. Islands occur in rivers and lakes, although the largest islands are found in oceans or seas. Although continental landmasses are surrounded entirely by water, they are not islands because of their massive sizes. However, some geographers refer to Australia (the smallest continent) as an island despite it being almost four times larger than Greenland.

It is difficult to figure out the number of islands on planet Earth because not all islands have been discovered. The world oceans have not been fully explored and chances are there could be more islands than the current estimated figure. However, there are thousands of islands in the oceans with varying sizes, shapes, flora, fauna, climate, and geography. Most islands are either tropical or volcanic islands, with Sumatra (Indonesia) as the world’s largest volcanic island

Although the world’s oceans and other water bodies are dotted with thousands of islands, most of these islands are have smaller surface areas. Only about 322 islands have surface areas greater than 1,000 square kilometers. Of these larger islands, about 179 have areas of at least 2,500 square kilometers, while the next 30 largest islands cover between 2,000 and 2,499 square kilometers. Five Islands, Baffin, Madagascar, Borneo, New Guinea, and Greenland, are at least 500,000 square kilometers.

Greenland is the world’s largest and only island whose area exceeds one million square kilometers. Its size, 2.13 million square kilometers, is almost one-fourth the size of Australia, the world’s smallest continent. However, New Guinea (the second-largest island) is the world’s highest island, at 5,030 meters, and home to Oceania’s highest peak. Indonesia, which possesses the western half of New Guinea (second-largest island), Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Java, is the world’s largest island country. Here are the world’s largest islands and some of the largest lake islands.

The 10 Largest Islands in the World

NOTE: Australia is widely considered as a continental landmass, not an island. It certainly is the largest island, with a size of (2,966,153 sq miles) (7,682,300 sq km).

10 Largest Island Countries

10 Highest Islands in the World

10 Largest Lake Islands in the World

10 Largest Islands in the USA

10 Largest Islands in Europe